Robert Franklin Armfield (9 July 1829 - 9 November 1898) was the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina from 1875 to 1876, and a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1879 and 1883.
Armfield, born near Greensboro, North Carolina in 1829, attended the common schools and later graduated from Trinity College in Durham. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1845 and practiced law in Yadkinville.
In 1861, Armfield enlisted in the Confederate Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War. He served as lieutenant and later as lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-eighth Regiment of North Carolina state troops. After the war, Armfield moved to Statesville and resumed his law practice.
While on furlough from the Army in 1862, Armfield was state solicitor for the sixth district. He was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1874 and 1875; during the 1874 session, he was Senate President. Armfield was chosen Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina and served in that post from 1875 to 1876.
In 1878, Armfield was elected to the U.S. House and served two terms, in the 46th and 47th U.S. Congress (March 4, 1879 - March 3, 1883). He did not stand for re-election to the House in 1882, but instead resumed his law practice. In 1889, he was appointed and then elected to a term as a superior court judge, a post he held until his death in Statesville in 1989. Armfield is buried in Statesville's Oakwood Cemetery.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
